


All except Anders

by Smutnug



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age II
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-15
Updated: 2017-05-15
Packaged: 2018-11-01 02:27:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10912452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Smutnug/pseuds/Smutnug
Summary: Inspired by a bug in the epilogue





	All except Anders

One by one they left the Champion’s side.

All that is, except for Anders.

 

_Bethany. Her body shattered when the ogre threw her to the ground. A broken doll._

 

Darktown, well-named. But as well call it Filthtown, Deathtown, Eat-rats-or-starve-town. That was where she met him, coiled tight like a snake about to strike. Guarding his wounded, his sick, his broken. He warned her, early on, I'll hurt you.

 

_Carver. Veins black, eyes grey. He died in her arms in the Deep Roads. Mother had begged her not to take him._

 

Even as her heart broke, she found herself moving up in the world. She could offer him sanctuary but he wouldn't take it, even when he said he would drown them in blood to keep her safe. It didn't sound much like safety, she joked. Back then, she could still laugh sometimes.

 

_Isabela. She took the relic and sailed away, didn't look back although behind her, the city burned._

 

Mother was gone, snatched away in a single night of horror. Her fault, she should have seen, should have stopped it. When they were alone she sobbed, shrieked, fingers clutched in his mantle as he stroked her hair.

 

_Aveline. When the dust settled, she had to return. She had a husband in the city and, more importantly, a duty._

 

You are everything I hate, he said, and kissed her. Hungrily, desperately, her lip between his teeth, tongue seeking hers, hands clutching her face as if she could keep them from drowning.

 

_Merrill. It didn't suit her, life on the run. She was nervous, fretful, always looking over her shoulder. When Hawke told her to head back to Kirkwall, see what she could do for the elves, she left with equal parts guilt and relief._

 

She left her door open and, as promised, he came to her. This is the rule I will cherish breaking the most, he said, and there in her room they shed their clothes, his hands cupped her breasts, his mouth traced a line of fire from her collarbone to the soft skin of her throat. They lay on the bed and he filled her, her strong legs wrapped around him, they drank each other in, both so grateful for the warmth of each other, the softness, the small respite from the chaos surrounding them. Stay here with me, she said, and he did.

 

_Varric. He hated the outdoors. It was a testament to the strength of their friendship that he stayed as long as he did, stoic and grim as they trudged from one miserable hiding place to another. It wasn't hard in the end to convince him that his talents were better spent elsewhere, helping, rebuilding._

 

He needed her help. A chance to undo the willing possession he'd entered into that now consumed him, his eyes shining with a fevered passion for justice. Justice. She had come to hate the word, if not the concept. Anything, she said, stroking his hair, his face resting against her breasts. Tell me what you need me to do and I'll do it. He was her family now.

 

_Fenris. He had always been uneasy around her, prickly, distrustful of her magic. At the end she had to drive him away with spiteful words that burned her as much as they did him. When he was gone she stood in the rain, arms wrapped around herself, shaking._

 

No compromise, he said, and he damned them all. Kill me, he said, and she did, drove a knife into his back. Justice. He fell, the light in his eyes dimming.

 

 _Anders. He never left her side. His soft words in her ears, the brush of his lips on her neck. When she closed her eyes she saw his, the light dimming. His arms strong about her as she slept on the hard ground, the cold seeping into her bones. His hand, outstretched, on the bloody stone of Kirkwall_.


End file.
